Stop Looking - Found it

Nothing worse than losing something?

Elsie was walking along the street, making her way home, when she looked down in her bag to get the home key out, and she noticed her wallet, containing pretty much everything, was missing. 

Shock and disaster rang out - Oh NO!! I've been shopping all afternoon, and it could be anywhere!

Ever lost anything?

I know I have, and it's a horrible feeling, especially when whatever you have lost contains all sorts of important things that can have a huge effect on your life.

My wife was shopping for new shoes at some point, and when she went to pay for the ones she had picked out, she couldn't find the credit card - all dismay hit her! Where could it be? 

To cut a long story short, after going to all the other shops she had visited, she had to cancel the lost card (which in itself can be a lot of work) and pay for the shoes by cash - pretty much unheard of here in Oz.

She got home, and the shoe shop rang to tell her that the lost card had been found under the seat she had used in the shop - very frustrating.

Back to Elsie - her whole wallet was lost - it contained not only her house keys, but all her credit cards, all her money, all her other cards, including her car licence, her blood bank card, and numerous other cards.

Her life changed in a twinkling of an eye - Another long story cut short it took her months to finalise everything- she lost at least three hundred dollars in cash as well as all her credit cards - fortunately she was able to cancel her card and save her bank savings which was in jeopardy if someone had been able to withdraw cash form her bank accounts or go shopping in her name.

We are pretty lucky in this country of ours - mostly banks and others will help us out if a disaster like this strikes us.

You know our lives can change in the twinkling of an eye as well - something can happen in our lives that will immediately and permanently alter us in so many different ways.

Just yesterday, here we are in Newcastle, Australia, a total disaster fell. A young couple who had decided to go surfing early was attacked by a huge bull shark. The young couple was viciously attacked. A young man tried to rescue them, pulling them out of the water.

So sad, really - the young lady died at the scene, and the young man is in a horrible condition, maybe losing his legs - truly a disastrous situation.

How do we cope with something like this? Quite a question!

There is really no answer because no matter what we go through, our lives can change so quickly and permanently.

We hear on the news constantly, every single day, how people the world over are suffering all sorts of disasters - things that many people will never get over.

I know the world changed dramatically when a young baby was born in a dirty old stable well over 2000 years ago - the baby, of course, was Jesus, born in extreme poverty, and yet grew up and forged ahead to make our lives a miracle if we can accept His salvation.

So many people today think that Jesus was nothing, that he was born and died, and that was the end of that - how wrong can you be?

I know that he changed my life - I was completely lost, dwelling on the bad and horrible things that happened in my life. They are still with me, and unfortunately, I will continue to live with them come what may, BUT I know that Jesus came into my life and changed me.

Before I asked Jesus into my life to lead me, I was completely and utterly at a loss, trying to cope with all the horrible and nasty things that kept surfacing in my life.  Did my life's circumstances change after I asked Jesus to come into my life and lead me?

Actually, NO, I still had all my upsets and worries - my life seemed to keep going through lots of traumas, BUT my life did change - I know that asking Jesus Christ to come into my life and making Him No.1 had a huge effect.

When things go crook, I ask Christ to guide me, to come into my life and take charge, helping me to cope with whatever it is that changes my life. I keep my eyes and my heart on Him at all times no matter what disaster falls on me.

I'm off this weekend and traveling a couple of hours to be with my son in a hospital in Sydney. He has a severe case of cancer and has undergone major surgery, removing his pelvis. I doubt he will ever be able to walk again.

Do we give up?

Never!

Jesus died for us, and both my son and I and the rest of our family know that whatever may happen, we all know where we are going regardless.

Do you know?

Give your life to Jesus today. He will come in and guide us all through the tough times, whatever they me be in your life and mine.

God bless - see you next time.

Envy is a terrible thing

 Envy is a terrible thing - a cancer on the soul.

"These days, he calls himself a property developer and a 'facilitator', although I don't know what a facilitator does and have no desire to find out. It's like that famous quote about sausages. "Sometimes it's best not to see how they're made or what goes inside."

The above is a famous quote from an unknown, but to me, it sounds like someone is really quite envious of someone else, as goes the story of many different people throughout the world.

Envy is quietly going on behind many people's lives - it can be dangerous, it can be malicious, and it can border on murder!

Envy apparently involves painful and resentful awareness of an advantage someone else has rather than yourself.

Envy comes with a desire to possess whatever someone else has and keep it all to yourself.

Envy can lead to many and varied negative thoughts and actions, and also extreme resentment, insecurity in yourself, and, unfortunately, a serious case of envy for some other person.

Envy can also be about wanting what someone else has, and it can lead to extreme cases of jealousy, being terrified of someone liking someone else better than yourself, or fearing the loss of something you already have.

The definition of "envy" is to want what belongs to someone else. That is a really a very simple way of putting it, I guess.

In lots of ways, I guess a whole lot of us have suffered from envy at some point in our lives - I know I definitely have. Here I was stuck in a family of Mum and Dad and three other siblings, all with amazing singing voices (except me and Mum), and having to listen to them over and over again.

I was actually quite envious of them - so many times I watched them all perform and had to well and truly take a back seat. 

It wasn't till good old Mum sat me down and explained in great detail that envy is a resentful, dissatisfied, and extreme desire and longing to be like someone else or to want their talents or even their possessions.

I was really taken aback by what she said. Here was I thinking, "I want what they have got," and I received quite a shock when she explained we all have our unique lives and we are all so different!

Envy is, as the Bible explains, an act of humanity and is the result of sin, which unfortunately is in all of us.

There are lots of types of sin in the world, from hatred, jealousy, rage, etc, etc. If you look in the Bible in Galatians chapter 5, it says quite plainly that those of us who live like this will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God.

Now that to me is pretty scary, so I will quote from Galatians 5:19-21: "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and ENVY; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will NOT inherit the kingdom of God."

The very first case of envy is recorded in the Bible, in the story of Cain and Abel - here were the brothers (whom I have mentioned before in my blog), going about their work and also offering special things to God, such as burnt sacrifices (not human, I might add). Cain became jealous of his brother Abel and then killed Him.

And so it goes on in the Bible, with Esau and Jacob, Rachael and Leah, Saul and David, and so on. It's well worth the read when you have the time; it is really very interesting.

Envy is a heart thing, and it can really muck you around - I am so pleased that my Mum, all those years ago, dragged me screaming over the fact that I should never lust after what others have and be so content with what you do have - regardless of what that may be.

Trusting in Jesus as Lord of our lives is really THE only way to avoid envy - does that mean you will never ever be envious of anything or anyone? Unfortunately, no, it doesn't mean that - we will all fall into the trap of being envious of something or someone BUT being aware of what has befallen you, coming to God in prayer and asking His forgiveness is really all you need to do.

He will certainly forgive our downfall IF we are truly sorry for being caught in Satan's net of lies and traps, and God will forgive - He has promised to do so, and he certainly will if you truly come to Him and ask Him to.

FORGIVE means to completely start anew - get rid of the old -  pardon the past - start anew - cancel all sorts of debts. Forgiveness is an act of pure love and certainly means holding nothing against the person who has wronged you. Tough? Yep, can be! But with, God on our side, we CAN forgive - and we can also ask forgiveness if we feel we have certainly wronged someone in the past.

Takes courage to do that, and unfortunately, when we do ask for forgiveness, that person may decide not to forgive - that is entirely up to them, but the miraculous thing about that is that God knows YOUR heart and He is fully aware that you asked for forgiveness, which came from your heart regardless of whether that person decides to forgive or not.

So, where are you with your walk with God?

Come to Him today - ask His forgiveness and also ask Him to come and lead your life. Hand your life over to Him.

God bless you this week - any questions, please ask, and we will try to help.

Unbearable

Oh, sighed Hannah - in the past few weeks, she had been feeling a bit off. She had a lump in her throat that came and went, and there were times when her throat felt constricted, as if it was being squeezed by an invisible hand. 

It's absolutely nothing she felt and got dressed and went off to work in the restaurant next door - in her usual nice manner, being extremely beautiful in nature to all the customers - everyone loved Hannah.

As the day wore on, her throat worsened, and the discomfort was unbearable - she kept working. Her throat was scratchy, and a rough sort of feeling seemed to worsen as the day progressed.

She experienced a stinging and burning sensation, particularly when swallowing or speaking.

She ended up with a dull aching sensation which kept turning into a sharp, intense discomfort in her poor old throat. There was tenderness when she touched her neck as well.

She didn't want to go to the doctor! BUT she did. She was so helped.

What do you do in this situation?? Do you go to a doctor?? Some people in some countries can't go to a doctor - I think of the many, many people overseas in so many war-torn countries that can't seek any sort of medical help at all. It is really bad news.

Many people have and are suffering all sorts of horrible and even terminal illnesses, and can't do anything about it.

Living in countries that have medical help available is truly wonderful. Our neighbour recently went to have just a normal check-up, and his doctor advised him that he had the start of cancer and advised that an operation was necessary straight away.

I feel so sad when I consider so many people the world over can't have access to medical help at all - we are truly blessed, just as Hannah would have been.

Hearing the news last night, I was again shocked at the disasters around the world happening every single day, from tornadoes to hurricanes, from alarming murders to kidnappings, from horrendous car crashes to shootings by the score.

I am just in awe that we live in an area where toothaches, sore throats, and broken toes can be remedied by doctors, whereas throughout the world, so many thousands of people are going through absolute hell - no doctors - no medical treatment - homelessness (which we have here as well) and yet where we live we are incredibly blessed.

You know, Jesus went through absolute hell Himself while he was here on earth - He was ridiculed, spat on, beaten, whipped, crucified, nailed to a cross, laughed at as he died, and yet he did it for you and he did it for me.

He took our sins even though we weren't even born yet and killed them for us by His horrible death on that cruel cross. Sometimes I find His death amazingly sad yet amazingly courageous - He is our Lord and King, and there is nothing that can take that away.

Today, it is often so hard to stand up for God - there are so many countries in the world that not only ridicule Christians but torture and kill many thousands who stand up for Jesus and believe in His holy name.

He has prepared a place for us or for those who come to Him, confessing their sins and asking Him to come into their life and change them.

Come to Him today - hand your life over to Him - the world itself is going downwards at a rate of knots, and yet our Lord is amazingly there for us every single second of every single day.

Have a good week, regardless of what is happening around us.

God bless - see you next time.

Hero

Cam was this fierce little boy, the youngest, but always scampering to follow after his brothers. He was trying hard to find his place in the world and holding on for dear life. Take the camping trip, the one where he saved his brother Pete's life.

Pete hadn't been well all the previous week, and he didn't really want to go camping, but he was never one to miss out on an opportunity. He had come down with an allergy and should have been more careful not to eat peanuts, but when you are camping, well....

Pete went down so fast, gasping for breath, and a feeling of dread came over all the boys who were camping with Cam and Pete.

Cam searched for his allergy pen to inject for his brother, but couldn't find it. As small as Cam was, he hauled big brother over his shoulder and struggled through the bush for at least 4 kilometers until he finally found a passing car and flagged it down.

Fortunately, Pete was still breathing, albeit pretty faintly. The driver of the car, a lady, quickly turned the car around and went back the way she came to the local hospital ten kilometres away.

The hospital organised a helicopter and flew Pete and Cam to the main hospital, at least 150 kilometres away. Cam asked the pilot to contact their parents, and of course, they obliged, and they flew into Sydney hospital.

Cam stayed with his big brother as the doctors and nursing staff rushed Pete through the emergency ward and to the theatre. Cam stayed with him as long as he could until one of the nursing staff very nicely took him aside and seated him in a waiting room not far away from his brother.

Cam and Peter's parents arrived and were rushed to the waiting room, where they met up with Cam. Pete had to have a resuscitation operation, and when it was over, two doctors came into the room where Cam and his parent were waiting.

They quickly got up to talk to the doctors to find out exactly what had happened, and one of the doctors explained that it was really touch-and-go when it came to saving Pete's life. They explained in great detail exactly how much young Cam had actually saved his brother's life.

How amazing to be in such a place to have saved someone's life like that - it makes me wonder just how many people have actually been in a very similar situation. Incredibly, people put themselves in precarious situations to help others - a sentiment we have heard many times over the years.

Cam is a HERO

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It was when the twin towers at the World Trade Centre were horribly destroyed in the USA on September 11th, 2001, by Islamist terrorists' suicide attacks by al-Qaeda. 

Nineteen terrorists hijacked four airliners, and then one flew into Centre in New York City. So many people were horribly killed, but what was extraordinary was the fact that so many people put their very own lives at incredible risk to save others. My heart goes out to the families of the 2,977 people killed on that day, and also to the thousands more injured.

This from Wikipedia

"Firefighters from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) rushed to the World Trade Centre minutes after the first plane struck the North Tower. Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer and his crew with Battalion 1 were among the first on the scene."

How amazing were these firefighters and, of course, the many, many others all on the scene - truly awe-inspiring 

It's so sad when a family member dies. It truly can be heartbreaking.

These firefighters and rescuers are HEROES

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Jesus put his life well and truly on the line for all of us. He gave his life to save mine and yours on that devastating day over 2000 years ago. WHY? Because without His payment for my sins, I would be held accountable by God and would pay the price.

We have heroes in this old world of ours - people who really put their lives on the line for us every day. 

Jesus actually gave his life to pay for my sins and yours - all you really have to do is ask Him to lead your life.

JESUS IS OUR HERO

God bless you this week